Conference changes and realignment --it's anyone's guess. --MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 WHAT WILL THE FUTURE BRING FOR LOUISVILLE?

As we look forward to the fall sports and the new challenges for our Louisville women's sports squads, we also wonder how conference changes will affect how our teams do ...and if there are more conference realignments and changes ahead? 

I wonder how long the "Pac 2" will exist and who will eventually take the two remaining members  (Washington State and Oregon State). Will the Mountain West team up with them? What would you call such an alignment? Would they attract others? 

Will certain members of the ACC continue to rattle their swords and speak of leaving to join "so and so" or "those guys" and what will the newest members of the ACC bring and have success at in their initial season? It would sound weird to say Caiifornia dominated the Atlantic Coast...wouldn't it?

I read a interesting rant in one of the comments sections of a site I read occasionally...about how the nation should divide into seven regions for DI sports and create seven "super conferences". The Northeast, East, Southeast, Central, Midwest, Southwest and West. The idea is an intriguing one...there are 363 DI schools, so, obviously, there just might need to have subconferences with the conferences. And, how would independents Notre Dame, UConn and UMass react to this in football?  

Imagine the conferences haggling over border lines for placement. Imagine UofL and UK in the same division but IU and Purdue in different ones? I know, too much thought requests for a Monday morning, right? 

Schools used to take pride in their number of conference title wins and domination over other conference foes. All that might be erased, down the road. Imagine Virginia Tech and Virginia in two seperate conferences...imagine Maryland and West Virginia being matched up again with the regional rivals they used to have. 

I guess all we can do is cheer for our favorite team and hope that they do well in whatever conference they might end up in down the road. For Louisville, who began years ago in the MVC and made strides thru various conferences until they reached the ACC, the thought maybe isn't as weird as Kentucky fans getting used to being in something other than the SEC. 

Interesting times ahead.,,,stay tuned and let's review it five years from now...shall we? Or maybe five months...

paulie

More Fall Sports Cancellations -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Patriot League Cancels Fall Sports

The Patriot League made the decision yesterday to cancel all fall sports due to the coronavirus pandemic.  However, they will wait until a later date to make the decision regarding winter sports.

The U.S. Military Academy (Army) and Naval Academy (Navy) are exempt from the decision.  That responsibility will fall under each school's superintendent.

The Patriot League consists of (10) schools:  American, Army, Boston U. Bucknell, Colgate, Holy Cross, Lafayette, Lehigh, Loyola (MD) and Navy

Louisville historically has not scheduled Patriot League opponents in the regular season for most sports, but have often met opponents in post-season.  It should not directly affect anything for UofL sports as of right now.

SEC Delays Decision


SEC officials met yesterday in person to decide the fate of fall sports.  They elected to delay their decision until the end of July, which is roughly two and a half weeks away.

Although their main focus was on the football season they did show concerns for all fall sports, but made no mention of winter sports.

It is uncertain whether they will follow the intra-conference only style that the Big Ten and PAC-12 are implementing or whether they are looking at cancelling the season altogether.

What About the ACC?

The ACC still has no decision on fall sports other than delaying competition until Sept. 1, for Olympic sports.  Football is still currently scheduled for normal.

ACC officials are expected to make a decision at the end of July.

With how things are going with other conferences and the recent uptick in confirmed cases around the country things are not looking hot.  Florida and South Carolina have been some of the worst states recently.  Those two states house three ACC schools: Clemson, Florida State, Miami.

We have been a little more fortunate in Kentucky with fewer confirmed cases.  Outside of the two confirmed cases among the men's basketball program UofL has not released any news on other sports.  Hopefully that is a sign things are going smooth, but there could also be restrictions due to HIPAA, which is why names from the men's basketball program were never released.  So perhaps there are cases we do not know about?

Let's just hope for the best.

I don't think we will have a fall sports season, nor do I believe we should have one in the best interest of fans, staff, and student-athletes alike.


Manatee Win 8-2 Over Pioneers

Taylor Johnson had four RBI's and the Manatee Squeeze used a six-run fifth inning to defeat the
SUA Pioneers last night 8-2.

People have asked, what is SUA? It's an abbreviation for Square Up Academy, a sports-performance training academy in Bradenton, FL.

Louisville softball student-athletes Jordyn Wolfe and Paige Schindler started for Manatee -- Wolfe in right field and Schindler as the designated hitter. Wolfe went 1-3 from the plate (a single) and scored a run. Schindler also went 1-3 (a single), scored a run and drove in a run.

Manatee is 12-5 on the season, good for second place in the FGCL, and 4-1/2 games behind league-leading Myakka City River Mocs (18-1)

You can follow Wolfe and Schindler's pursuits in Florida at the link below:

LINK:

FGCL Softball

Please continue to stay safe and healthy, and we will get through this together!

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!


Jared